Study Questions for pp.18-23: The Anglo-Saxon Period (449-1066 A.D.)
Tip: Although most of the answers are in order, some of these questions require an understanding of
the entire selection because some answers are found throughout. Look over all of the questions first,
give the selection a quick first reading, and then reread the selection carefully to answer the questions.
1. Why was Anglo-Saxon literature often dark and gloomy?
2. Who were the first important inhabitants of Britain prior to the Romans? What can you infer
was one contribution these early people made?
3. What contributions did the Romans make to Britain?
4. When and from where did the Anglo-Saxons come to Britain?
5. What contributions to Britain did the Anglo-Saxons make?
6. What is one way the Anglo-Saxons apparently differed from the Romans?
7. Where did the invading Vikings come from?
8. Were the Vikings more like the Romans or the Anglo-Saxons? Explain.
9. Why was Alfred considered great?
10. Why did William, duke of Normandy, invade Anglo-Saxon England?
11. What were the social and political effects of this conquest?
12. How did this conquest affect the Old English language?
13. In what ways did the early religious beliefs of the Anglo-Saxons differ from their later beliefs
14. What important roles did monasteries play?
15. How might monasteries have affected Anglo-Saxon works like Beowulf?
16. What was the language of the Church and of scholarship and learning? Why wasn’t the language
Old English?
17. Besides providing entertainment, why were epic poems like Beowulf important to the AngloSaxons?
18. How might Anglo-Saxon literature have been different if it had been written rather than oral?
19. Although Bede with his History of the English Church and People and King Alfred with the AngloSaxon Chronicle were both important literary and historical figures, their works were different in
major respects. How did the languages in which each was written differ? Who were the
different intended audiences for each?
20. How are Old English and Modern English similar?
21. What is one way the two languages differ?